Blogs from Tyrol, Austria, Europe
February 17th 2012
You would think that after going 36 hours without sleep, except for a half hour snooze during Shakespeare on the plane, that I would've had a long night's rest once I climbed into bed. Yet I was up most of the night coughing my brains out. I assume I was allergic to the feather bed or some alien German mould in our room. I kept my poor mother awake as well. But when breakfast time rolled around I actually felt pretty refreshed. The planned itinerary for today was the cause for some concern before we left home. We would be driving through the Alps and a couple of high mountain passes on our way to and from Innsbruck. Innsbruck is only 50 miles from Innsbruck but it is over roads prone to receiving some heavy snow ... read more
January 11th 2012
We just got back from our via ferrata adventure. It was a BEAUTIFUL day for it; a bright blue sky and crisp white snow. The lift to get to the start of the climb had been closed for the last week due to serious snow. We were lucky that it just reopened this morning. Unfortunately that meant there was a LOT of snow, waist deep or higher in most areas. For those who don't know what via ferrata is (like us 3 months ago), there are cables bolted throughout the mountains that were put there during the wars. Their purpose was for spying and allowing exits from the villages. We took the gondolas and chairlifts to the start where we left our skis and poles. By this point we already had our harnesses and slings with ... read more
January 10th 2012
We're on the train going to Landeck Zams, sadly it's our last stop in Austria. The train ride is beautiful. We missed the majority of it on our way to Zell as it was already after dark when we left Innsbruck. Attached are a couple pictures from the train. I am quite content sitting here drinking buttermilk and eating Milka chocolate. Yesterday we had a 'Brad style' day of relaxation. We spent the morning in a cafe drinking coffee and eating apfelstruddel and kasstruddel. Then went to the Taurern Spa. A ridiculous building with about 10 different heated pools and 10 saunas. My favourite part was the kids waterslide, Brad liked the alpine meadow sauna. I reaffirmed that I'm terrible at sitting still and 'relaxing'. It also didn't help that we weren't sure what the rules ... read more
January 4th 2012
We're sitting on top of a mountain after a glorious day snowshoeing and a wonderful evening with the other hutte guests and staff. I can't upload the video, but i must say this has been one of my favorite days over here.... read more
January 1st 2012
I'm sending all of you a message from the future... welcome to 2012! Happy New Year! We brought in the new year beside the Inn river watching PHENOMENAL fireworks to a waltz, 'nothing else matters', a german song and '21 guns'. We have a few videos to show. Enjoy the rest of 2011!... read more
January 1st 2012
We went downhill skiing today at Axamer Lizum. I had a very satisfying 4 runs (5 if you count the t-bar run). It took an entire run for me to figure out what I was doing, but by the end of the day I had a lot more confidence. The mountains are incredible! I did my last run looking at a limestone mountain range glowing in the setting sun! Sorry no pictures today-the playbooks had a quiet day in our room. Off to bed, we're going to push our muscles tomorrow and go skiing at Patscher Kofel. The ski area has over 1000m of vertical for a single run. Guten Abend!... read more
December 31st 2011
We arrived in Innsbruck last night. Unfortunately the internet coverage isn't great, so no videos for awhile. We were a bit nervous coming to Innsbruck as the weather forecast called for rain today, however since we got on the train at 4pm last night it hasn't stopped snowing! There's been something like 7-10" in the last day. The trees have big blobs of snow on their branches. It looks like a winter wonderland! We explored the altstadt (old city) today stopping at the market hall and a few coffeeshops to warm up and shake the snow off. The coffees, hot chocolate and apple strudal were great, but my favourite is the delicious soup everywhere. Food is one of the three things Austrians must really enjoy based on the stores we came across. The other 2 are ... read more
December 29th 2011
Well,we're in Seefeld. We arrived shortly after dark last night and found our b&b up on the hill. It looks like Austria! And there's even lots of snow. Our host is very friendly (doesn't know any English :) ) and our room is small but clean and comfortable. After unloading our stuff we explored the town. It's much more touristy than we expected, but still looks like a European town. For dinner I finally had the schnitzel und suppe I've been dreaming of ever since we started planning the trip. It was delicious! We only had one mix up with the order when Brad ordered a Radler beer thinking it was going to be darker than the fantastic house beer. The Radler ended up being a mix of beer and lime soda which was also pretty ... read more
December 29th 2011
A great day of cross-country skiing! I've attached some pictures as the pan doesn't quite capture the beauty. After skiing we had some gluhvein to relax the muscles (only therapeutic) Now we're off to have dinnet at the beer garden. Life is good!... read more
